Fishing

Deneysville

Deneysville has several good fishing spots either from the banks or from the Water Sports Club. The club is very popular among fishermen and several competitions are held from there including Nationals in March 2013. If you prefer to fish from your boat then the club has launching facilities. Several types of fish are present including including Bass, Yellow Fish, Barbel, Carp and Mudfish. Entrance fees are payable but quite reasonable and you can take your tent or caravan. There are shady lapa’s and all have braai facilities the site has toilet facilities and showers.

The club is managed by “The Safari Shop” on main street where they have an extensive range of angling equipment. In addition in Main Street opposite the Caltex garage is another fishing shop called “Mega Outdoors” which also specialise in fishing equipment and baits. Further information about the club or fishing equipment can be had by contacting Isabel on 082 895 3819.

To get to the Water Sports Club probably the best way is to drive down Main Street then turn left into Island Street past the Village Inn and down to a T junction with Manten Marina in front of you, Turn left go down to the end and you will see the club. There is another good spot called Kylie Bay and to get there at the Manten Marina T junction turn right and travel about five hundred metres and you will see the park on your left. There are not so many facilities at Kylie Bay as the Water Sports Club but it is usually free to fish from or a small fee depending if there is anyone on the gate – and you can also camp there although you will probably need your own washing and toilet facilities.

The Angling Advice Below Is Taken From FAVISA Website And Is Their Copyright

With the long shoreline for choice, we get all kinds of banks but a large portion of this shoreline tend to be on the shallow side. It is well known that some of the more popular fishing venues need some walking into the water to rest the bait on the deeper more suitable floor.

This is not to say that this dam might be a shallow dam overall, in fact it is measured in some areas to be as deep as 47 meters which means there’s enough room to enable the fish to grow into those monster sizes we sometimes dream about but never catch. Stories about Barbel around the dam wall that’s so big it just lies there with its mouth open, have all been heard of but again, we’ll leave this to everyone’s own imagination. But in retrospect all fish including the Barbel can only grow to it’s maximum size which falls considerably short of any campfire tale or ghost story. But let’s not discourage our potential adventurers, the Barbel specifically do however grow to immaculate sizes in the Vaal and is regularly caught well over the 20kg range which in my opinion still qualifies as a monster.
As for the Carp species in this dam, fish over 20 kg might not be a frequent occurrence in the Vaal although I will contribute this to the extensive amount of anglers that swarm upon this dam on a daily basis. It is to my understanding too, that even for a fish that has made it past the first couple of years without getting caught and taken out, you don’t get to be big by not being clever. And with a Carp that has somehow managed to reach the 20kg+ range, it might just be outright intelligent.
But as far as intelligence in fish goes, technology always seems to decrease this gap with continuous inventions and improvements that yet again hands the recreational angler the upper hand in this Vaal dam duel.

Other species you might find in the Vaal are fish like Mudfish, Small- and Largemouth Yellowfish and in selected areas the new addition, Largemouth Bass, Although the Bass anglers might need a boat to get to these fishing spots. As far as we know there aren’t any Tilapia species in the Vaal as the temperature is not suitable, but we do know of Grass carp that is regularly caught all along the banks. And if people would stop releasing their Koi fish into the Vaal, we will stop catching those every now and then.

Fish:

Carp – Common, Mirror

Carp – Grass

Yellowfish Smallmouth

Yellowfish Largemouth

Mudfish

Bass Largemouth (Black)

Places that we might want to mention are Deneysville which is to most, the last “big” town close to the water, although places like Oranjeville might suffice as a quick stop for everyday needs. While the dam lies towards the south when driving from Johannesburg it is just over 50km, however everybody would rather shoot straight for Vereeniging or Vanderbijlpark as their last stopover before aiming for the Vaal.

If you would like to stay at the Dam for a day or two Stone Cottage Central Booking offers a variety of accommodation. Large parties can be catered for. Please call Annalize on 083 379 4626 to see Stone Cottage click on accommodation.